Monday, December 21, 2015

Luna Sandals Mono Gordo Review

For years I have been asking Scott (Head Design Monkey at Luna Sandals) to make a Recovery sandal. To make a Mono as thick as possible. Scott is pretty open minded dude. But somehow our ideas never matched up until now.

Cha-Ching
It's like having two Zero drop lightweight aircraft carriers strapped to me feet. I received my first pair just before heading to Colorado this summer. 1,000 miles later here is my review.

I planned on wearing in them for the Leadville 100 so on the Tuesday before the races I wore them on some random 14er

Surprisingly there was still some ground feel but no sharpness from jagged rocks.

The grip is minimal much less than the Leadville Gordo but plenty enough for Leadville.
Huh?

Unless you are "Sandal Geek" you my not know that there is another version of the Gordo called the Leadville Gordo. it's very stiff and rigid but with better grip. They are nice for hiking but I don't recommend them for running.
(Hows that for confusing?)

I was excited to see how these Fat Monkeys would preform over 100 mile race.

The race didn't go as planned but that would lack adventure if it did.

I had some breathing issues during do to smokey air but was still able to score a big buckle with a sub 24 hour finish. Although my lungs felt like crap. It was the fastest recovery time I had ever had from a 100 miler thanks in part to the Mono Gordo sandals. I was back running less than 30 hours after the race and felt so spry I was able to qualify for the Boston Marathon the following weekend.

I wore them again 2 weeks after Leadville at the Hideaway 100 In Winter Park CO.
This was a strange race. I had miserable morning I got lost a couple times running extra miles. I felt like I had boogie boards on my feet and I wanted to body surf. It wasn't until about mile 60 that I found my happy place.

I ended up finishing the race in 3rd place plus I got in about 7 bonus miles.
Once again my feet felt great the next day and my recovery was almost instant.

The true test of these sandals and where they really shinned came in October
When I joined Barefoot Alex in the Champions Walk 4 Peace
running from Chicago to New York

My feet felt great. and the sandals felt better and better as I sunk into them.
Can you guess which two are mine?
Is this really relevant?
Probably not

Conclusion:
Chances are you will probably lose one of your Mono Gordo sandals before you wear them out. Why do you think you see only one sandal in this Picture. Where the other one is I have no freaking clue

Probably stolen by pirates?
(the pirate needed it more than me)

These sandals are built to last and while I don't think they are perfect for everything. I think the standard mono is better sandal for most people. The Mono Gordo Is great for people who run long distances on hard surfaces. Perfect for the concrete jungle .

After 1,000 miles the Mono Gordo still has a ton of life left and felt like they were getting better.

That witch never would of let tht house fall on her if she had on some Luna Sandals. As for Dorthy if she had Luna Sandals instead those ruby red slippers that gave her such bad blisters she would have totally won the Yellow Brick Road Marathon.

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Lunacy

I love trying new products on race day. How else am I gonna know if they really work unless I put them to the limits. I have raced in in a tutu, a kilt , a running skirt and I have set course records running barefoot, naked and in sandals. No race is to short or too long and I have won races in the following distances 1mile (beer run) 5km, 10km, 1/2 marathon, marathon, 50km, 100km and even set a distance world record running 24 hours barefoot in the sand. . I am glutton for punishment. Sometimes I fail miserably but I like to learn from my mistakes and come back a smarter competitor. I am the Running Lunatic.